The King is Dead

Sunday, June 12, 2016

For someone who likes Zorro and Robin Hood as much as I do, I suck at coming up with plots for characters like that on the fly. I should have written this for myself way back at the beginning of my Savage 7th Sea campaign instead of now that it’s on its way to wrapping up and Robin’s lowborn swordswoman has discovered she’s actually Queen Elaine’s long-lost child (screw canon). Oh, well... Maybe Robin can use it when I eventually talk her into running a Zorro campaign for me.

Champion of the People Adventure Generator

Whether riding masked across the California hills or hiding hooded in England’s greenwood, a Champion of the People stands apart from other swashbuckling heroes because he defends a population or area rather than acting as an agent of authority (like Dumas’ Musketeers) or seeking fame and fortune (such as most pirate protagonists). The following tables present random elements that can be combined to inspire game masters running such campaigns.

Because Champions of the People are tied so directly to specific places, many of these elements must be interpreted in consideration of those settings. Zorro’s California is much more likely to suffer a drought than Robin Hood’s England.

Roll once on Table 1 for Villain, once on Table 2 for villain’s target, once on Table 3 for Threat, and once on Table 4: Is This a Trap?

5 = A Rival (challenger for hero’s title as best bowman/best swordsman/etc.)

6 = An Assassin (roll 1d6; on a roll of 1, the assassin is targeting the Local Authority)

Table 2: Innocent

1 = Persecuted Minority

2 = Friend, Family Member, or Ally of Hero (roll 1d6, on a roll of 1 – 2, their Threat is against a Villain)

3 = Hero’s Love Interest (roll 1d6, on a roll of 1 – 2, their Threat is against a Villain)

4 – 6 = Local Notable (roll on Table 2a: Local Notable)

Table 2a: Local Notable

1 = Tavern owner / Innkeeper / Hospitality Worker

2 = Merchant / Artisan

3 – 4 = Land Owner / Aristocrat

5 – 6 = Peasant / Laborer / Farmer

Table 3: Threat

1 = Raised Taxes / Seizure of Property / Theft

2 = Abduction / Enslavement / Pressed Into Service

3 = False Charges / Imprisonment / Lawsuit

4 = Challenge (archery contest, horse race, etc.)

5 = Assault / Murder / Wrongful Death

6 = Famine / Foul Weather / Natural Disaster

Table 4: Is This a Trap?

1 – 4 = No

5 – 6 = It’s a trap! (If the villain is an Innocent in the Wrong, roll again on Table 1 to determine what villain has tricked them into this, ignoring Innocent in the Wrong results as desired)

Example:

I choose to roll up an adventure for La Pantera, my Zorro-esque heroine from the “Character Gallery” article in Savage Insider Vol. 2, Issue 2 “Taking Action.” Part of writing that article was giving her a well-eveloped supporting cast, so I have a lot to play with.

Villain = 5 = Unaffiliated Criminal ( = 6 = Assassin)

Innocent = 3 = Hero’s Love Interest

Threat = 2 = Abduction / Enslavement / Pressed Into Service

Is This a Trap? = 6 = It’s a trap!

Well, this is pretty freakin’ obvious. An assassin comes to La Pantera’s home town of Campeche and kidnaps her love interest to draw her into a trap. As it so happens, one of La Pantera’s antagonists is the assassin El Jaguar – who is her long-lost, believed-dead husband – and she happens to have a new love interest in Governor Luis Francisco de los Alamos Constante-Pedilla, a good man trapped between his duty to the people and the commands of General Santa Anna.

El Jaguar knows La Pantera’s identity but she doesn’t know he’s her husband; seeing how cozy La Pantera’s secret identity and the governor are getting, El Jaguar kidnaps the governor in order to test his wife’s fidelity to his memory (the trap). Bingo! And probably not a plot I would have thought up without the prompt.

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